Modernising Taunts!? No gendered insults please!

02-18-2016, 08:59 PM

I'm glad that on very low settings I could test UT4 today, and I love how nice and clean it looks even on low detail. However, I'm annoyed by the taunts -- in UT2004 a "Die, b*tch", "You *****!", or "You play like a girl" seemed like a bit of nasty nostalgia; back from the day, when the gamer stereotype only included cis-male straight boys. I'm not okay with them using these insults, but well, what can you do.. but! I'm extremely not okay with UT still carrying these insults -- it normalises that it's ok to shame people by shaming femininities, I would hope we're finally behind that.

Just to exaggerate the effect, imagine UT also had "f*ggot" or "n*gga" and the like in it. I for one would just ignore that game altogether. When I fire up a game, it's because I want to have fun in my spare time, and being automatically insulted with insults that denigrate me as a part of some marginalised group is hurtful, i.e. the opposite of fun.

I'm sure there will be a way to disable taunts down the track. I don't have a problem with them myself in fact I find them funny (sorry, warped sense of humor). If you could give some examples of taunts that you believe would be more suitable that would be very helpful to anyone viewing this post.

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What's funny is that even the female characters say "You fight like a girl!"

Personally, I would like to the removal of taunts from online, and replace them with you know, this technology called VOICE CHAT, but until the day that super futuristic technology is implemented, the oldschool taunts are what we have now.

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If even as few as 5% of people are genuinely upset by those taunts.. by all means, remove em. It's not like they're necessary at all :P.

On a side-note though, because im curious.. why do you choose to take them so seriously?
Apparently you just seem to be annoyed by the sexist taunts. I assume you imagine your reasoning for being upset to be something along the lines of "This subtly promotes sexism and makes the world a worse place by demeaning various genders. Even if only by a small measure." If that's the logic you're going with, then I think you should be made aware of the violence in this game.

While you become upset by some of the sexist taunts in this game, you find it completely fine to shoot people's heads, shred them into pieces and be visually and auditively rewarded for it. My point being: UT has existed for 15+ years, and so have shooters in general. Do you feel as if the violence of this game has in any way contributed to a negative influence towards violence on a more global level? I don't think so.

Now.. if thousands of players enjoying to shoot heads and shred guts out of other people's characters hasn't had the slightest impact on anything in society. What do you think would the impact of those sexist taunts be, that probably most of the players have disabled anyway? To be honest, I think that you, asking for it to be removed, is more destructive towards your cause, than removing those taunts could ever be.

But again.. if people feel "genuinely" upset and hurt about that, by all means: remove them. But please don't do it just because of your ideology and because of politics.

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From Settings drop-down menu (gear icon at the right side of the top bar) select "System settings", "Audio" tab, uncheck "Bot speech" option.

"Yeah. _Lynx can fire the lightning gun, have the lightning bolt turn a 90 degree corner, stop and ask the closest teammate for directions, confuse the directions and get lost, realize it went the wrong way, make a U-Turn, and get a headshot on the intended target."

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I don't understand why a game would allow simulated mutilation and killing, but not allow saying the word b*tch. It's OK to murder someone, as long as you don't use harsh language? Our perception of what's morally acceptable is completely messed up.

Anyway, UT always had an option to disable mature taunts, and I'm sure this one will, too.

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I really don't see the problem, there has always been a toggle to turn it off for the people that take things too seriously, and it will likely be added this time around as well, so just use that eventually (for now you can also just turn off the bot taunting via a toggle, but that won't disable the taunts themselves).

Just to exaggerate the effect, imagine UT also had "f*ggot" or "n*gga" and the like in it.

You gave me an idea for first voicepack.

Vassago.
I am from eastern europe, where slinging an insult towards the man to ridicule his lack of masculinity (very important trait in my culture, lack of it is a shameful display) is a part of cultural heritage. And you are trying to convince devs to remove the aspect that makes me feel at home. STOP OPRESSING ME, YOU XENOPHOBIC BIGOT!
Jokes aside, look, You don't like them, turn them off. I'm gonna keep them, cause i like them, understood?

What's funny is that even the female characters say "You fight like a girl!"

I think not: My sister (born 1979), back in 80s, if my brother and father were to be believed, used insults like that when she curbstomped (she claims not literally; i would not be suprised if indeed she smashed them on concrete) many older boys in neighbourhood. It makes you feel insulted = It perfectly serves it's purpose as a taunt.
BTW:The best part of story is, when a mother of some beaten up boy came to my father with the accusations of letting his daughter "maul" children. The thing i thought was funny is that Magda (my sis name) was half of height of the sore loser; brittle looking girl and that woman look (impersonated by my father whille retelling, shame you could not see it) when she discovered that fact. Then that kid got punished for attacking girls (In family nobody questioned it was Magda who started).

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What's funny is that even the female characters say "You fight like a girl!"

Personally, I would like to the removal of taunts from online, and replace them with you know, this technology called VOICE CHAT, but until the day that super futuristic technology is implemented, the oldschool taunts are what we have now.

Yeah, 'cause an anonymous 16 year-old's trash talk is much more pleasurable to listen to.

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Who is the arbiter in all of this? Who decides what's OK and what's "going too far"?

Fact is, EVERYONE is offended by something; so trying to please said everyone, is basically impossible. And as a great man once said, when you do something that makes everyone happy, that's how you know you did something wrong.

The taunts should match the game. When bloodthirsty criminals and hardened soldiers are mass-killing their enemies with high-tech, destructive and lethal weaponry, there isn't going to be a single f**k given as to who or what they offend with some spoken or gestured taunts. And that's how it should be.

Having said all of that however, I would agree with the OP in doing away with gendered taunts. If we're going to offend people, let's do it right and that means not doing it against things they cannot control. Such taunts are boring and uninspired, frankly, and a thing of the past that should stay there.

I'd like to see some more interesting, new and most importantly, creative taunts. "You play like a girl" is hardly an insult nowadays anyway. It's really more of a compliment. But if a character calls out "What the HELL are you even aiming at?!?!", or "This dumbass must be aiming with a gamepad!", or "You're more likeable when you're DEAD!", it sounds much better suited and just simply more fun for a game like this.

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Don't make me laugh. Are the taunts really insulting? Guys you should play Left 4 Dead or CS or Postal2 multiplayer and feel those toxic and insulting community on your skin deep to your bones. For me UT99 and UT3 taunts were good enough. I didn't like UT2004 taunts because of bad sound quality and stupid voiceacting.
The best taunts I've heard so far were in games Blood 1996, Shadow Warrior 1997 and Duke Nukem 3D 1996

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Taunts don't have to be childish, perverse, gender-specific or psychotic (that dude yelling at his cat is simply unhinged) to be effective and shock-value decreases every time it's heard; those long, ramblings become tiresome fast (particularly out of context).

The verbal taunts should match the awesome visual taunts already in the game.